Aspiring poker star sentenced to prison for following casino players home and robbing them

The Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens, where prosecutors say a man targeted guests and followed them to their homes to rob them. (Glenn Koenig / Los Angeles Times)

A judge sentenced an aspiring poker player to nearly nine years in prison for targeting guests at Los Angeles-area casinos, following them home and robbing them.

A jury convicted Dominick Blair Roberson, 27, in October of four counts of second-degree robbery and one count of attempted second-degree robbery, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.

Advertisement

Roberson's spree took place between October and November of 2015, and he targeted mostly women as they returned their homes in Torrance, Westminster and Long Beach.

He followed a 59-year-old woman from Hollywood Park Casino to her Torrance home, where he punched her and stole at least $6,000 in cash.

He used a replica firearm to rob a 50-year-old woman of $1,000 after following her from the Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens to her Long Beach home, prosecutors said.

From a 41-year-old woman in Westminster, he stole about $3,100 in cash as well as her purse.

With his ill-gotten gains, the Paramount resident returned to the casino in Hawaiian Gardens and gambled, prosecutors said.

Another woman was robbed of more than $2,000 — which Roberson later used to gamble at a casino in Gardena. Shortly after that robbery, Long Beach police officers arrested him at the casino.